The Apocalypse Effect
by Glaivester
Summary: Sequel to The Essex Plan. Sinister tries to free Apocalypse and a whole lot of other stuff. Talia gets a name-check.
1. Mesmero

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar.

Summary: Sequel to the Essex Plan. Sinister releases Apocalypse, but the two have competing agendas. Meanwhile, Talia is growing up very fast. And a non-mutant joins the institute.

Quick notes: Talia is T. J. "Nocturne" Wagner, but this is an alternate version of her, not the Exiles version. "Wild-type" means non-mutant. This story contains a lot of Krull references, not for any real point but just so fans of the movie can catch them and say "hey, that's cool!"

Chapter 1: Mesmero

About a month after Talia's kidnapping and rescue (around early October), ~ 11:30 pm at night:

Slowly Mesmero made his way up to the X-Mansion. His instructions were clear and simple.

"Rogue... Rogue..."

Rogue slowly awakened, and walked over to the window. She nodded, and then walked through her room to the door and down the hallway to Jamie's room. Once there, she opened the door, walked in, and placed her hand upon Jamie's head. Then she walked back to her room. She got dressed, and then opened her window and leaned out.

Mesmero threw a baseball at her and hit her in the shoulder. A second Rogue appeared, and the first pulled back in and undressed, put her pajamas back on, and went to bed. The second Rogue jumped out the window and landed outside. She multiplied for a second, and then drew the duplicates back into one Rogue. Mesmero took out a syringe and injected her. Now this second Rogue would become totally separated from the original. She would also be better able to retain powers for long periods of time.

Mystique was waiting in the car. Mesmero got into the front seat, and Rogue into the backseat with her foster mother. 

"Your usefulness is at an end, Mystique," said Mesmero, as Rogue grabbed her with an ungloved hand, knocking her out.

~ 1 am that night/the next morning:

The Acolytes were all drinking at a bar called _The Iron Desert_ when four very attractive women came in. A blonde sat next to Victor, a brunette next to Remy, a raven-haired beauty next to St. John, and a redhead next to Piotr. 

"My friends and I would like to get to know you guys better," said the blonde.

A few drinks later and they all were at a motel, although Piotr had expressed objections. Finally they had told him he could just watch TV with his date.

"Well, Cher, what you be wantin' t' do wit' Remy?"

"Let's kiss."

"Oh, sumpin' a lil' more int'restin' den dat, cher!" smirked Remy. "Remy be likin' a lil' challenge, like maybe strip poker?"

In response, the girl grabbed him roughly and forced him to kiss her.

He fainted dead away.

"So, moyt, watcha wantin' ta do?" asked St. John.

"Kiss."

"Okay!" And St. John fainted as well, as soon as his lips met hers.

Piotr's date skipped talking and just grabbed him and kissed him. He, too lost consciousness.

Victor, on the other hand, took the initiative and kissed his date, upon which he lost consciousness.

The four women walked out of the four adjacent motel rooms. They walked right into each other, merging into one - and that one was Rogue. She walked toward a nearby car, where Mesmero and a driver with non-descript features were waiting.

Back at Sinister's base, Mesmero and the driver got out. The driver flexed his muscles and stretched, and then morphed into Mr. Sinister. "Thank you, Mesmero. I will take it from here."

"But you need me to get the girl to Apocalypse."

"Au contraire. I have my own mind-controlling methods. And your loyalties have always lain with Apocalypse. I intend to make him my slave. Good day." Sinister lifted his hands, and yellow bolts more powerful than his previous ones flashed out, paralyzing Mesmero and finally vaporizing him.

"If I need your services again, I have a number of clonal embryos," he explained to the pile of ashes.


	2. A New Student

Chapter 2 A New Student

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

~10 am that morning:

"A non-mutant?" asked Kurt. He had taken over for Scott since Scott had graduated. "Are you sure, Professor."

"Kurt, one of the hardest parts of prejudice is when it splits families up. There have been mutants who have been abandoned by their parents for being 'freaks.' The wild-type parents are so afraid that they abandon their own flesh and blood."

"Ja. I know how zey feel. For ze longest time, I had thought zat had happened to me, before I found out Mystique's true motives."

"What about non-mutants born of mutant parents? The X-gene is dominant, and so mutants who are heterozygous (A/N have one copy of the X-gene and one normal gene) should have approximately 1 child in 4 born non-mutant. They sometimes consider their children to be freaks, or... cripples." Xavier didn't like that word, for obvious reasons, but it summed up the attitude.

"Vow. Being hated for being normal. Veird."

"Well, his parents - his mother, that is, his father never had much to do with him - put him in an orphanage when he was nine. They made it very clear that they wanted nothing to do with him after genetic analyses had revealed that he did not have an X-gene."

"Do ve know who the parents are?"

"Well, Kurt, I'd rather keep it confidential, but you all are going to find out anyway, considering the fact that the kid kept his father's last name. Creed. Graydon Creed."

"His father is Sabertooth?"

"Yes, and his mother is... well, you are his half-brother on the mother's side."

"His mother is Mystique?"

"Yes. Kurt, we want him to feel welcome. If he doesn't, well, I sense a lot of hate in that boy. He could become a great - danger someday."

"How old is he now?"

"Fifteen. Two years and a month younger than you."

"Wait a second - mein mutter had... had... with Sabertooth? Ewww..."

"Well, Kurt, he's probably a lot nicer when he's in a good mood. And I have discovered that some of the girls actually think that he is... hot. I can't help but overhear when they shout it out mentally."

"Gross."

"Wanda," said the Professor suddenly. "Come in."

"Hello, Professor, hello, Kurt. There's a problem."

"Vhat? How is Talia?"

"Very well, I left her with her Uncle Pietro. I'm worried, though. Talia's little more than a month old and she's already a toddler. Sinister did something to her, I just know it. But," she shook her head and held out her hands, "that's not why I'm here. You've got to help us, Professor. Mystique is... gone. I think she's been kidnapped. She disappeared more than forty-eight hours ago."

"And how is zat strange?" asked Kurt.

"She- she has been very insistent on making certain she's with her granddaughter." Wanda then looked over to Professor X. "She has been here all month. She tells us when she leaves - she's really trying to be different. I also have a feeling. I don't know if it's part of my powers, or women's intuition, but - but I am sure something has happened to her."

She then turned to look at Kurt. "By the way, come by today. Your daughter wants to see her daddy."

"Ja, ja, of course."

"Kurt, make certain you do. She's growing up very, very fast. And I want you to be there. Parents should always be there for their children. Darn it! I don't know why, but I keep feeling angry - Kurt, I - I feel a murderous rage if you don't see her every day. I don't know why!"

"Wanda," said the Professor. "As I have told you before, I know what the problem is, but until Forge completes his... his device that suppresses a mutant's powers, I don't feel comfortable explaining it. I can't risk explaining everything to you until I know that you can't lose control, because believe me, you will when you discover the secret."

Just then a skinny, but wiry and scrappy-looking, young boy walked in.

"Hello, Kurt, Professor. I'm the new student."


	3. The Plan Unfolds

Chapter 3 The Plan Unfolds

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

At about the same time:

Essex looked at the bodies in the suspension chambers. Success.

He had managed to create pseudo-clones of all of the X-Men and the Brotherhood from the samples he had taken. They were not viable, and couldn't even use their powers. They were essentially biomatries of cells imbued with the X-genes of the various members spliced into them. They had the entire genome of each of the members, but were just goo, living human tissue but not human flesh. But they could transfer the powers of the X-Men, as well as the powers of Juggernaut and of Magneto, of whom Essex had taken cell samples many, many, years ago. The biomatrices were all being mixed together to form a goo that had the various X-Men's powers in it, but not usable for any purpose but transfer. 

The goo was gathering together in a bath. Since killing Mesmero, Sinister's attentions had been entirely focused on getting this bath to be just right.

"There. Come now, Rogue 2."

Rogue 2, as she was called, stripped off her clothing and got into the bath. Slowly the goo, which looked like white tofu, turned black and ashen.

"Absorption complete," smiled Sinister. "I would have you absorb the Nasty Boys as well, but you see, I need to make certain that I have some leverage over En Sabah Nur."

Sinister walked over to the tub and punched Rogue 2. She split in two, using Jamie's power. Then she got out of the tub and the Rogue 2 put on her clothing. Rogue 3, having no clothing, simply copied Rogue 2's using Mystique's shape-shifting ability. Sinister took a device on his belt and pointed it at the Rogues. Pressing a button, he zapped both Rogues. "There. Now you two are separate. On to the Himalayas."

Ms. Dexter and Slayer walked in. "You called for us?"

"Yes. These here are Rogue 2 and Rogue 3. They will be used by me to awaken Apocalypse. In the meantime I want you two to watch over Mystique. Make certain that she is able to get a message to the X-Men, to the Brotherhood, and to the Acolytes. I want them all to come to this base and attack it."

"Why?" asked Ms. Dexter. "Why should we want them here?"

"No major experiments are being done in this base. However, if they attack, they will not be guarding the little blue elfette, now will they?"

Slayer smiled. She was physiologically almost a year older now than when she had fought the X-Men, proving that Sinister had finally managed to get his maturation-acceleration process to work for older children. Her platinum hair with two symmetrical streaks of black nicely offset her emerald green sunglasses. "So the Nasty Boys will take her?"

"Yes. And by the way, I have decided that Slab is no longer of service to me. Make certain that in any fight that occurs, he dies. I need exactly four Nasty Boys, no more, no less. And tell my workers in the Brazilian base to begin building the prototypes. We have the necessary information from Stark Labs. Now, I will be gone at least a week. The little elfette, Talia, should be kidnapped by then. And after Mystique sends her message, kill her. I have no use for her, and if I find I do later, I have her DNA so I can clone her. Hmmm... anything else? Yes. You, Merith," he pointed at Ms. Dexter, "are not to get involved in any actual fighting. You could damage the child. And you," he pointed at Slayer, "Slayer is not a usable name when you are with other people. From now on your first name is Lyssa when you are in social situations. Lyssa Summers. Slayer is your code name for official business."

"Yes, sir, and thank you for helping me to reach my full potential."

"Yes, well, you'll need weekly treatments if you are to reach full maturity by June. I'm afraid that my methods are a little more intensive on people your age than on babies. I wish I had been able to improve you earlier, as I did with the Wagner child."

After showing a moment of tenderness towards Lyssa, Mr. Sinister turned to his "clone-daughter," Merith Dexter. Suddenly he was businesslike, which for some reason his daughter took as a sign of affection and respect. "I am going now. Put the plan in motion in about one hour. Good-bye."

A few hours later, Slayer came into Mystique's holding cell with some food. Mystique had noticed that she carried a communications device that would be very easy to take off of her belt. Mystique immediately realized that she was supposed to take the device, and also figured out Sinister's plan. Good grief, it was so obvious that it was an insult to think that she'd fall for it. So Mystique made like she didn't notice it, hoping that she would buy a little more time to make her escape.


	4. Creed

Chapter 4 Creed

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

Later that day:

Kurt and Graydon were playing with Talia at the Brotherhood House. The place was being made up nicely now. Freddy, Todd, Pietro, and Lance were all helping out to make things easy for Wanda. Kurt wished that she would move to the Institute so that he could be with her and the baby, but she had refused, and he could not live here at the boarding house.

"She looks like you, Kurt." Graydon said bitterly.

"Vell, yes. Do you ever want to have kids?"

"What does it matter? I can't."

"Vhat?"

"Mother - she deliberately infected me with a disease when I was little. She told me it was a vaccine, but it wasn't... she told me the truth later. She eventually gave me the antibiotics necessary to cure the disease, but by then... I was sterile. I'm lucky that I still produce everything but sperm. Otherwise, I might have never hit puberty."

"Vhy vould she do zat?"

"So I wouldn't contaminate humankind with old, inferior genes. I was a step backwards, not forwards."

Talia climbed on Graydon's shoulder and nuzzled against his neck. He seemed rather non-responsive. "I hate her, Kurt. And, truth be told, I hate you, too."

"Me? Vhy?"

"How would you like to be told 'I wish I had been able to drop you in the river instead of my dear, dear, boy?' You were always her favorite, and because you weren't there, she could make you seem - so perfect. Her nice son, her perfect son, her 'normal' son. Not a crippled freak of nature, a throwback. Good grief, I thought that most humans were mutants until I was five."

"Vow. How did you not notice all ze non-mutants in ze vorld?"

"I thought that they all looked like Mom, and that they just put on their "freaky faces" when they were outside. I was born with a 'freaky face,' and so I had to hide the fact that I really looked like that. It's like thinking that you were born with clothes on."

"You must... I'm sorry. I can't imagine what it is like to feel that you are a freak because of a disability. Vith me, it's always been a trade-off, I'm freaky, but I can do things others can't vith you, you felt freaky and... disabled. I'm so sorry."

Graydon handed Talia over to Kurt. Suddenly Kurt noticed something.

"Her tail! It's... it's shrinking!" Slowly Talia's tail shrank into the hole in her diaper.

Graydon watched and then, as Talia was wearing only her diapers, tickled her stomach. She laughed, and the tail popped out again.

"Retractable," was his only word.

That night, Graydon sat still in the study, illuminated only by a small lamp, sulking. All the things he could never have. A family. His mother's love. Acceptance by those whom he surrounded himself with. He would never be let in. No danger room sessions, he had no powers. No playing games except the "no powers" versions. And he would never be certain whether they were playing that way as a challenge, or because they pitied him. Good God, this isn't how it should be. It shouldn't make you feel like a freak to be normal. And as far as Graydon could tell, it was only going to get worse. The X-gene was increasing its spread through the population exponentially. Humanity was getting replaced. And he would be replaced with them. 

Suddenly he heard a man walk in behind him.

"Graydon."

"Ca - Cay?"

"Cain. My name is Cain. I've - I've heard you talking to Kurt. I wanted to tell you - don't let the mutation come between you."

"What do you mean?"

"You're jealous of Kurt because your mother loved him more than you. And because he has mutant powers and you don't. Believe me, I know what you're going through. Professor X is my brother. I didn't know I was a mutant until I was thirty and I talked to... well, it's a long story. But the long and short of it is, until a Dr. Essex did some tests on me, I didn't know I had the X-gene, and until he enhanced me, I didn't have any powers. Charles was better than me that way - he had powers. And Father loved Charles best. So I... I grew to hate my brother. Also, Charles once read my mind - by mistake, and...well, the point is, I let my hate of my brother nearly destroy me. I'm trying to control it now, but I can't guarantee that I won't go off the deep end again. Don't let the same thing happen to you."

"Hmm..." Graydon thought to himself, 'but he could be lying. Pretending and using me.'

"It's strange, Charles used to be the more athletic one, and now he's in a wheelchair and I'm the Juggernaut."

"How did that happen?"

"Only the Professor knows. He doesn't like to talk about it, and I don't force him to."

"Ah."

Cain shook his head sadly. "I don't know what's going to happen with me. Now I have a son or daughter by a female version of Essex. Well, at least a son or daughter on the way. And I don't know where..."

But Graydon was lost in thought. Pondering what was to become of him.

(A/N): I figured I'd explain Talia's on-again, off-again tail in Exiles by having her tail retractable.


	5. The Acolytes' Discussion

Chapter 5 The Acolytes' Discussion

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

~1 am, the next day:

"Well," growled Sabertooth. "What did she do to me?" 

The Acolytes were still recovering at Magneto's base. "Remy t'inks it be Rogue, 'cept dere's only one of her, and she don't look none like what we seen wit' our own two eyes each."

"Did you contact Magneto?" asked Piotr.

"I ga-ron-tee," said Gambit. "And I called in to de Prof' too, jes' in case, but he's yet ta get back to ol' Remy."

"Wail, wail, wot 'ave we 'ere, moyts?" Pyro was beaming at the computer display. "It's a roight good thing Oy wuz smart and gave 'er a tracking devoice." 

"What?" asked Remy.

"Wail, she woz bein' rather flirty, and I decided ta give 'er moy nummer, but Oy don't really have one that I can use, and she wuz too coy ta let me 'ave 'ers, an' so Oy slipped a lil' devoice on 'er so's Oy could find 'er later if Oy needed ta."

"So where is she?"

"It lawst power a few hours ago, but she wuz in this lo-kay-shee-un for a good while," he pointed to a spot on the map. Ya know, wouldya like me to moyke some fire-mares with moy flame an' get ya there quicka?"

Gambit looked at the display. "Hmm... let's try to do some reconnaissance before we do a full frontal attack, mes amis."

Beast was looking over Jamie, who had been listless and tired all day, in the infirmary. He was now having trouble sleeping, and yet Hank McCoy couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.

"Hello, Bones," said Professor X as he wheeled into the room.

"Ha, ha," replied Beast. "You've got me confused with another Dr. McCoy.

"But you are the real Mc-"

"Charles, do you want to be a quadriplegic? And no jokes about the Hatfields, either."

"Okay, so do you know what's wrong?"

"Only that Jamie has been more clumsy than usual this morning, and yet he hasn't produced a single clone."

"Hmm...has this happened before?"

"Once."

"When was that?"

"When Rogue's powers went out of control. She had drained him when she freaked out at the concert. But I asked Rogue and she hadn't touched him."

"Still, maybe we should jostle Rogue a little. See if she shows signs of having absorbed Multiple."

"It is unlikely that she would hold the powers this long."

"Well, I guess I'll just check my voice mail before turning in."

"I'll give Jamie some warm milk or some herbal tea."

"You know," said Jamie dryly, "I _am_ in the room. You can talk _to_ me, you know."

"Sorry," mumbled Hank.

When he heard the message, Charles blanched. Four girls had absorbed the powers of the Acolytes. Four girls just like Rogue - she could have used Jamie's powers. And Mystique's. But - when would she have gotten Mystique's powers? There were no other shapeshifters that Xavier was aware of in the vicinity, so it had to be Mystique. But she wasn't here - was she? She'd been kidnapped, perhaps, and forced to touch Rogue. But why? Who would have...

"Mesmero!" Charles grew even paler. He turned on the intercom and practically yelled into it, "X-Men! Wake up! I think Mesmero's going after the third key!"

He quickly took the phone off the hook and called Jean's dorm room at the college. He would tell her, and she, being only two buildings away from Scott, could use her telepathy to inform him.

Meanwhile, using Colossus' bike, Remy had driven forty miles out of town. Only another thirty to go before he reached where Rogue had stayed. He wasn't sure exactly what to do when he got there, other than be really quiet and to see if he could get some information.

Using Cerebro had been remarkably easy. Charles had spotted Rogue, or rather two Rogues, going to the Himalayas, and some earlier research with Magneto had suggested that something that Apocalypse had wanted was in Egypt.

Charles sighed. What should he do? He didn't want to play into Apocalypse's hands. Magneto had already been tricked into opening the second door. What if he were to be similarly used?

About an hour later, he was addressing all of the assembled X-Men. "I think we need a plan. We are about to face an enemy one thousand times as daunting as Magneto ever was."


	6. Rescued

Chapter 6 Rescued

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

Mystique had finished the tasteless mush that Lyssa - Slayer had given her. She sighed and handed the plate back to Lyssa when she came to collect it.

'Nice prison,' thought Mystique as she walked around. 'A toilet and everything. Don't have to go in a bowl and give it to the guards like in some prisons.'

Suddenly she looked out to see Ruckus looking at her from outside of her cell.

"Hello, cher."

"What do you want?"

"T' rescue you, m'lady. Shoot! Jes' act natural. Don't let on."

Ms. Dexter had walked up to the cell. "What are you doing here, Ruckus?" she asked pointedly. "shouldn't you be guarding the perimeter?"

"Hmmm-mmmm." Ruckus shook his head.

"Oh, yes, it is Slab 's turn." She turned and walked away.

Ruckus fumbled a little with the circuitboard outside of the cell, and managed to get inside and to disable it.

"Run, cher! Run for it!" Mystique joined Ruckus and they ran as fast as they could to the nearest exit, only to run into - Ruckus.

"What the Hell?" screamed the second Ruckus. The first Ruckus threw a charged card at the second, causing him to jump out of the way before it exploded.

"Gam - Gambit?" asked Mystique. "You're a shapeshifter as well?"

"Gambit be many things, cher. Mostly a t'ief. I'll explain later." He and Mystique were running. Gambit used a few cards to explode the front door, and they ran off, Gambit leading the way. Quickly they jumped on Colossus' motorcycle and sped away. A shot of green optic force blast managed to hit the ground near their back tires, but they avoided any direct damage.

"So," asked Mystique, as she looked at Gambit, who still looked like Ruckus. "Since when did you have shape-shifting powers?"

"Since I stole one of Kurt's image inducers."

Gambit suddenly hit a button on a watch on his right hand, and his appearance went to normal. "So, how's about a kiss fo' yo' knight in shinin' armor. At least, torso armor and shin armor, Remy's thighs just got normal clothes on."

"Not now."

"Jes' jokin' anyways, cher. Where to?"

"Xavier's. Now. Talia is in danger. I think I know what her powers are going to be, and I think that Sinister does, to."

"How?"

"I talked to a friend. She is - clairvoyant. Destiny, I call her. But - I think Sinister figured it out through analysis of her X-gene. She'll be able to shoot bursts of energy from Kurt's teleporting dimension at people, and to shift her mass into a side dimension - this one not Kurt's teleporting dimension - while transferring her consciousness to another's body. By the way, she also has very mild telepathic powers. I can feel them even now."

"But we're miles away."

"I don't mean now, this instant. I mean I can even feel them now, as in, while she's a baby. I did overhear Sinister talk a little, and I managed to piece together some information. Apparently, Talia is going to grow up in about a year, and then resume normal aging. But unless she undergoes certain treatments to telepathically add knowledge to her mind, she'll still think much like a child. Sinister's plans were screwed up when she was rescued.

Back at the mansion, the X-Men and the Brotherhood, and the Acolytes, minus Remy, were all listening to the plans that were being made by Charles, Logan, Hank, and Ororo. All except for Graydon, Roberto, Sam, Ray, and Jamie. Boom-Boom, whose allegiances were still not clear, was also there.

"I think," said Xavier, "that we need to focus our energy on getting to the Himalayas and stopping Mesmero and the two Rogues. I am assuming that they are the result of Rogue using Jamie's powers under Mesmero's influence. If anyone can find Magneto, we'll need his help, too. I also think that we ought to inspect the location in Egypt where Apocalypse was born. Something; some device, is there that Apocalypse needs to reach his full power, and we have to make certain that whatever Apocalypse wants with it does not happen."

Rogue was very distressed by this turn of events, especially as two copies of her were walking about, but she joined with the others in trying to figure out what to do. They were deep in discussion when Gambit and Mystique came to the gate, pressed the "doorbell," and asked over the intercom to be let in.

Once they got in, they were included in the planning. Unfortunately, Charles was too wrapped up in the discussion to notice the deep feelings of hatred coming from elsewhere in the mansion. Suddenly a gunshot rang out, and Mystique keeled over.

"Hello, mother," said a voice from the doorway. "It's time you paid."

Everyone turned to look at Graydon Creed, standing there with a handgun. "What? You think I wouldn't bring something here to defend myself? Those of us unlucky enough to be born normal need something to even the score."

"No, Graydon!" screamed Kurt as Creed leveled the gun at the fallen Mystique for another shot.

"Shut up, Kurt. You don't know her, you weren't there. I don't blame you, but I will avenge myself, and if you want to live, you won't stop me. He pointed the gun at Kurt. Anyone tries anything, I will shoot them. And don't try to teleport, Kurt. You might be able to disappear before the bullet passes through you, but it will hit someone behind you. Just let me kill my 'mother,' and I'll leave you alone."

"Hmm... kill your father, too, and we got ourselves a deal," muttered Wolverine.

"Logan!" said Charles angrily. Sabertooth also looked angrily at Logan.

Suddenly a blue light surrounded the gun, and Graydon pulled the trigger. But nothing happened.

"You will not shoot that thing in front of my daughter," hissed Wanda. She had been holding Talia, who had fallen asleep but who was now wailing in fright. "Leave. Leave now." The gun flew out of Graydon's hands.

"Mutants!" hollered Graydon! "You always stick together! She's a bitch! And she should die! But you won't let me!" he began to cry. He collapsed on the floor. Charles was about to use his mental powers to put the boy to sleep until the authorities could get here when Sabertooth grabbed him by the head. 

"Don't. Leave the boy with me. He's showing promise. And I've always wanted to shoot Mystique myself. I will take care of this."

"Dad?" Graydon had not registered that Sabertooth was there until now. "What do you want? Aren't you just going to leave me again? Leave me alone with my 'loving mother?'" Mystique began to stir. The shot had pierced her right lung, but she was still alive and had managed a temporary "healing" using her metamorphic abilities.

Wanda turned to Sabertooth. "You left your child???!!" she screamed in a rage. She hexed him right through the wall. "What's, what's happening to me?" she cried, and fell on her knees while holding Talia. "I- I can't control myself."

Cain, who was wearing a bathrobe and slippers, and no armor, went over to her. "Now, now, it's okay, it's..."

"No, no, I'm going to hurt someone. I'm... I'm not safe. Talia isn't safe with me. But I can't leave her. I can't abandon her... I'd kill myself first!" she was hysterical.

~Beast, Logan!~ said Charles psionically, ~get Mystique to the infirmary. Cain, help Wanda. Kurt, take Talia to your room for a few hours and try to get her to sleep.~

Sabertooth leapt back into the mansion. "What did you do that for?" He glared at Wanda.

"I don't know!" screamed Wanda. But you left your child! How could you!"

No one noticed Graydon Creed slipping out of the front door. But Kurt, sensing that the mother of his child was in danger, teleported onto Sabertooth and then teleported him away.

"Herr Creed," said Kurt hurriedly, "please calm down. She's - she's touching on repressed memories of her father."

Sabertooth relaxed a bit, then snarled. "Magneto's going to pay! I don't care what he does with his daughter, but when it affects me! When she attacks me for something her father did -"

"And which you yourself did vhen your son was a non-mutant."

Victor Creed threw Kurt off of him. "Sorry. I didn't even intend for Mystique to get pregnant. I just wanted to make a few bucks."

"Huh?"

"Graydon was conceived while we were shooting a movie for mutants. Non-mutants would think it special effects, mutants would see it as a movie by mutants for mutants, and the proceeds would go to fund Magneto's projects as well as to give mutant actors something to live on."

"How does this have anything to do vith Graydon's conception?"

"It was a - uh - a - well, Mystique got pregnant during one of the movie's - er - love scenes."

"But the love scenes are fake, not real; it's just acting. Vhy vould she get preg... Oh mein Gott! It vas a porno! Mein mutter conceived mein bruder vhile shooting a porno movie!"

Sabertooth grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "Hey, I can show you guys sometime. It was called 'Blue Savage Love.'"

That's strange, that's the same as the name of a romantic comedy. I remember it's in Hank's collection of romantic comedies in his lab. It's the only vun he's never brought to movie ni- Oh mein... oh- oh... no vunder he never showed it at movie night - he vatches porn vith mein mutter in it?"

"If it makes you feel any better, your mother's really good in bed."

"Zanks," scowled Kurt. "Zat makes it all better."

"She looks good naked, too."

"Shut up."

Kurt teleported them back to the mansion, just in time to see Magneto enter through the giant hole Sabertooth's body had made when Wanda had thrown him.

"Rest tonight," he said. "We will have a little time, but we need to be at full alertness."


	7. Nastiness

Chapter 7 Nastiness

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

Ruckus was the _de facto_ leader of the Nasty Boys. He was the one who would receive the harshest punishment should something go wrong, and Mystique escaping would definitely qualify. Sinister might lock _him_ up here in what he referred to as "the Black Fortress," unless he could do something to impress Sinister and to prove his worthiness.

Nonetheless, he had his orders, and would have to clear any plans past Ms. Dexter.

"So you're saying she escaped with someone who was disguised to look like you?" The female version of Ruckus' boss asked.

"That appears to be the most rational explanation. Perhaps a relative? He did have shape-shifting ability, unless he looks just like me." The pink-haired former rock star shifted in his seat.

"Hmmm..." Ms. Dexter ran some diagnostics. "A power fluctuation. It's my fault that I did not catch it. No, Ruckus, someone was using a hologram to get in here. It cannot be considered your fault. Which is good, because we have uses for you."

Ruckus didn't like this. Ever since "Urgo and the Magnificents" had broken up, he had always been more or less a free agent with the new crew he had picked up. The idea that his employ for Mr. Sinister would be anything more than a temporary gig worried him.

"So how do we get the little blue demon-girl now?"

"We set up our own bait. Summers must be aware now of his 'daughter.' Perhaps we can pretend that Lyssa Summers is a captive rather than a follower and have them try to rescue her. Then we can nab the baby."

"Or maybe..." Ruckus suddenly had an idea. "I could provide a distraction in town. Then the rest of the gang could sneak into the X-Mansion and kidnap her! Maybe we could use one of Boss-Man's teleporting devices."

"No," Ms. Dexter shook her head. "Those devices can only send you to areas where beacons have been planted. Teleportation is strictly defensive for us. Otherwise we would have been able to use it already."

"Well, they can sneak in if... wait a second. What if we use our automated defenses here? We have a few small robots that could delay the X-Men for a while."

"I'm not certain I understand what you mean."

"Sorry," said Ruckus. He realized that he had been formulating a plan, and had assumed that Ms. Dexter understood the whole thing before he had explained most of it. "I was thinking, what if we do a double distraction? We can use Slayer as bait, and also attack Bayville. If we use the robots to delay the X-Men in breaking in to the base, we'll have distracted enough of them presumably to let Ramrod, Gorgeous, Slab, and Hairbag get the girl."

"We'd need to reveal the location of our base... but then again, they must know by now anyway. Good plan."


	8. Collage

Chapter 8 Collage

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

A half-man, half-pterodactyl creature flew into the small passageway that had opened up upon his arrival. He would activate the vessel contained in the pyramid, and when Apocalypse awoke, he would transport it to him. After Apocalypse had turned it on, Sinister would take it from him and begin to make the proper modifications. 

"And I, Sauron, will rule beside him!"

At sunrise back at the Institute, Magneto and Charles had formulated their plan. Wanda and Beast would stay back at the mansion, making certain that little Talia was cared for and using the Danger Room to defend her if the Nasty Boys came calling. Mystique would also be there, in the infirmary. Of the rest, Kitty, Kurt, Jean, Cain, and Magneto would check up on the pyramid in ancient Egypt. The rest would go to the Himalayas to stop Apocalypse from being released. Charles figured that a skeleton crew was enough to explore the pyramid, but that both teams ought to have a telepath to insure that there was a defense in case there were telepaths working for Sinister at either site. As Jean was weaker than the Professor, Cain went with her, as he now had his helmet back (Magneto had brought it from the wreckage of the previous base) and so he could clobber any telepath attacking them.

Mystique had been put up in the infirmary. Her wound was serious - a punctured lung -but not likely to be fatal. Apparently her metamorphic abilities served as a somewhat temporary healing factor, enabling her to shape-shift her lung into a healed one for long enough so that she could be given the proper treatment. 

Sabertooth was going to go out looking for Graydon, but Charles insisted that he stay here, as he was going to be needed. They all were.

Kurt, Kitty, Jean, Cain, and Magneto were sent off, when suddenly the master computer system received a message.

Professor X's special pager was buzzing like mad, and so he went over to the nearest terminal and checked his email. It gave him a website to go to in order to get a real-time audio-visual two-way communications feed. He checked it, and a face that he immediately recognized from the team's description as Slayer Summers appeared on the screen.

"Help me," she pleaded. "I have decided that I cannot stay with Sinister any longer! I want to join you, and I have a secret to tell you... I can help you to defeat him for good!"

Professor Xavier could not, unfortunately, read her mind at this distance or through a computer screen. This could be a trap, or it could be real. But did he have time if he were going to try to defeat Apocalypse? On the other hand, if he could defeat Sinister, then Apocalypse might never escape and so he would kill two birds with one stone. He still had a few days with which to rescue Slayer before Sinister would reach the tomb. But he needed a few days to catch up to him, as Sinister had a good head start.

For their part, if Ms. Dexter, Ms. Summers, and Ruckus known that the teams were mostly going top be away from the mansion anyway, they would have forgone their massive distractions and just waited to go after little Talia when everyone was away. But then again, these distractions might give Sinister more of a head start than he had had, wouldn't they?

Charles sighed. He decided to send Gambit in to check out the situation. He would be the single team member of the X-Men/Brotherhood/Acolyte union who would have the best chance of sneaking in, and Xavier felt that he could spare no more than one man.

The Professor gathered most of the members of the teams who were still present together and explained the situation. After Gambit was sent on his way, suddenly Tabitha, who had been absent, came running in, breathless. "Professor, Professor! Come quick. Look at the news!"

They ran into the TV room, and what they saw frightened all of them. It was Ruckus, in the middle of Bayville, screaming so loud that he was shattering windows and causing cars to run off the road.

"We gotta stop him!" whispered Tabitha.

"No," said Pietro, who felt it his place to voice what his father would say if he were there. "It is not our concern. If he is going to destroy Bayville, that is the wild-type's problem. We must stop Sinister from releasing Apocalypse or it will become the problem of mutants and wild-types alike."

Before anyone could comment on that, Wanda walked into the room, with Beast behind her cradling Talia. Wanda was rather out of it, as she had been drugged heavily so that she wouldn't go off the handle like she had earlier. Talia was mostly on solid food now, and even before that her appetite had outpaced Wanda's production capabilities, forcing her to use formula and so Wanda didn't need to worry about the drugs getting to her through breast-feeding.

"What is going on? Who's on the TV?"

"Ruckus."

"Isn't that one of Sinister's men? Oh, I hate him..." she collapsed into a nearby empty chair.

Suddenly a bright laser-like light appeared on the TV screen. Someone had shot Ruckus! He fell over for a second, but before he could get up, three burly guys had grabbed him. He screamed, but one of the men was behind him and did not take the full force of the bellow. He snapped something on Ruckus's neck, and the mutant started for a second. Ruckus turned around and screamed at the third man, but when he screamed, it was a normal scream. Nothing special. He was knocked out with one punch.

Suddenly a reporter was on the scene, and she asked the man who he was.

"Why, I'm Darren Redman [A/N: original character]. I'm with the Friends of Humanity. We plan to protect humans from the mutant menace."

"Wild types," growled Beast, who hated people using unscientific terminology. "Protect _wild types_ from the mutant menace." 

Logan chose to ignore the fact that Beast had corrected the grammar on what was essentially a bigoted statement, much as he had sometimes corrected misspelled racial or other epithets written as graffiti on walls. It's not that he was insensitive, to insults it was just that he couldn't bear sloppiness, and he was a little too compulsive about correcting mistakes and forgetting about everything else.

"Why do you consider mutants a menace?"

"Because they have too much power. I mean, regular humans only have the power others give 'em, right? I mean, Hitler only gained power 'cause people were willing to follow him. If he were deserted by his followers, he'd be nothing! But mutants, one mutant who is powerful enough could take down an army! A mutant could become a dictator with only a few followers! We gotta stop them before they conquer us! 

The man paused for dramatic effect. "And you know what? They ain't natural! I have heard rumors that they are the product of alien experimentation. Some other race from the stars wants to use them against the earth to conquer it. That's why we need to stop them."

In New York, J. Jonah Jameson watched this with interest. And with anger. Real, terrific, bursting-veins-on-the-forehead sort of anger. "Stop them? Stop THEM? Why you little! Dirty vigilantes! I'll show them! I'm going to find out who they really are, their real agenda, and expose them to the world." He turned around to see a young free-lance photographer watching the TV over his shoulder. "Parker! Can you believe the bigotry there? The morons think they're protecting us! Why don't they join the FBI or CIA then, and take a stab at protecting us from mutants that the government thinks are dangerous? No, the imbeciles think that all mutants are the problem, and that they can solve everything by killing them all! It's like the people who say that inner-city crime justifies racism!"

"I thought you didn't like superbeings," said Parker.

"I don't like vigilantes. Trust me, Parker, there are mutants who I think should be brought to justice. I don't trust these X-Men I've heard about at all. Not after that incident with the robot or the strange occurrences in London. But the thing at the dam was - government okayed somehow, so maybe they work for the government. They don't seem to be looking for trouble, like that web-slinger, so I'm suspending judgment for now. But if they get out of line," Jameson spread out his left hand and hit it with the back of his right, "wham! Justice just like everyone else."

"But you don't dislike mutants, per se?"

"What have I been saying, Parker?" foamed Jameson. "I didn't endorse civil rights in this newspaper and fight like hell for it just to turn away when a new oppressed group shows up! Hell, I have mutants working for me! Maybe you're a mutant, that's how you can get those photos no one else can. But you know what? I don't give a flying fig as long as you're law-abiding and don't take the law into your own hands! Wanna be a hero? Investigate and bring out the truth to the people. I helped to eradicate several crime-rings in this city, and I did it the old-fashioned way! Reported on it like Thomas Nast!"

"Wasn't he a cartoonist?"

"You know history and you know what I mean!"

Parker thought to himself. "You know," he said to himself "that's not such a bad idea!"

Meanwhile a young man was watching the scene with interest as it unfolded before him.

The Friends of Humanity. That was what he needed. To get even with the mutants once and for all. To show them who the freaks really were. 

Graydon felt a slight twinge of guilt as he thought these things, remembering how nice his half-brother had tried to be. But no matter. He still needed to be shown his place. They all did. And how fortuitous that he had wandered right into downtown Bayville in time to watch it happen, in broad daylight.

Ms. Dexter was upset at the turn of events. Now she had to arrange a jailbreak and the X-Men would not be otherwise occupied if she were to invade the Mansion. She would have to put her energy instead into trying to capture or kill any X-Men who went into the base to rescue Lyssa.

Later, around noon in Bayville, but nearing sunset in Egypt, Sauron heard a sensor go off. He stared at the view-screen in front of him and saw one of Magneto's personal flyers, one for long journeys where a metal ball would not do, coming toward the pyramid. He activated the automated defenses that were in the nearby Sphinx, and set to wait. After the jet was shot down, he would drain them one by one.

An inhuman laugh escaped the pterodactyl-man's beak.


	9. Gambit's Adventure

Chapter 9 Gambit's Adventure

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

Nighttime:

Gambit whistled as he walked up to the base. He needed to find a side entrance, or something. It was fortunate that he, as a thief, knew just how to do this. He took out a special pair of binoculars and began exploring the countryside. Hmm... heat emissions from a location near a large tree. Gambit walked over to the tree. Although he never told anyone about it, he had excellent night vision. He suspected that this might be another of his secondary mutant powers, related to his strange eye color [A/N I just made this up about his night vision. I have no idea whether this is true in any canonical X-Men universe]. This did not, however, enable him to see heat, but he had a special pair of binoculars that did that for him, part of his ever-growing arsenal of thief-ware.

Gambit looked around slowly and then pulled out his bo-staff. A few knocks on the ground revealed that there was something metal and hollow directly underneath Gambit. Presumably a doorway. Looking around the tree, Gambit spotted a hole, which appeared to be the nest of some rodent or something. Reaching in, he discovered a panel of some sort.

Next, Gambit took out a small electronic device from his belt and placed it in the tree. IT went to work trying to short-out the panel. Surely enough, in less than a minute there was smoke coming form the tree. Hopefully, it looked like a normal malfunction.

Gambit hid behind the tree, and a few minutes later the ground over the door opened and out came Slab and Ramrod. Ramrod held out his hand and the hole in the tree opened wider, allowing him to look inside. It was the last thing he did before Gambit knocked him unconscious with his staff. Gambit then threw a few cards at Slab, knocking him backwards, and jumped down the hole in the ground.

Once inside, Gambit quickly noted where the sensors were and began destroying them, not by using projectiles, but by charging them just enough to fry them. He covered as much ground as he could as quickly as he could, for he realized that it was the only way top keep his location secret. If only sensors in one particular area were destroyed, it would be obvious that that is where he was, and if he destroyed sensors only as he needed to, then any time a set of sensors went down, it would be obvious that he was in that area. But of course leaving the sensors alone would cause the sensors to track his location. so the best bet was to black out as much of the base as possible, and then he could hide anywhere where he had previously destroyed the sensors.

After about ten minutes, he had cleared a sizeable area, even though he had constantly back-tracked so that he would only appear sporadically as he cleared another few feet of hallway, but then he ran into Hairbag. At first he attempted to fight using hand-to-hand combat, but the feral mutant breathed something similar to acid at him, and Gambit barely got away without his face being severely scarred. So he charged a bunch of cards and threw them at Hairbag until he backed off. Then Gambit sprinted away, putting as much distance between himself and his last known location as was possible.

After a few more minutes of destroying sensors and back-tracking, he saw the large, semi-liquid form of Gorgeous George in front of him. With a laugh, the apparently Australian mutant picked Gambit up and drew him to himself.

Gambit's one major weakness was that it was difficult for him to charge objects that were not solid, or did not have a regular structure. In effect, animals were nearly impossible to charge. So Gambit couldn't charge Gorgeous George to blow him up. However, he could charge almost anything else. He managed to explode one of his cards in Gorgeous's left wrist (on Gambit's right, as he was facing Gorgeous). He quickly freed his right hand and began throwing card after card at the tar man.

At first Gorgeous just kept reforming, but finally he grew tired and let go. Gambit took off in the other direction and then ran into Slab again. Gambit was beginning to run out of cards, and his right hand was beginning to hurt from all of the charging of his cards.

"Surely, mon ami, you don't want to beat up lil' ol' me." He dodged suddenly as Slab made it clear that he did want to beat up little old Gambit.

"Leave him to me," said a cold, calculating voice. Gambit turned around to see Ms. Dexter staring at him. "He will be useful in the coming age. Father has used him before. Unfortunately, we didn't ever get a genetic sample. But we will do so now. If he's nice, he might even give me another child after I have Juggernaut Jr." She raised her hand and a green bolt of energy flashed out and hit Gambit.

"My powers are like Dad's, only - varied due to the duplication of his X chromosome and the lack of the Y chromosome. Just like Slayer's powers are different from her 'daddy's.' You know, green instead of red, emerald quartz instead of ruby." The green bolt froze Gambit to the spot, and slowly she lifted him off the ground. "I had to tire you before confronting you, otherwise, you might have been able to attack me. I didn't want to take a chance of injuring the baby before his or her powers manifest themselves." She smiled and showed her teeth, all of them apparently fangs.

"Gambit'll never let you have his baby!" spluttered Remy. 

"If Juggernaut couldn't resist my charms, how can you?" Suddenly she began to laugh. "Don't worry. It's nothing personal. Just having children, you see; romance, love, emotion doesn't come into it. So don't feel too bad. You won't be the one carrying it for nine months."

Then Gambit passed out.


	10. The Himalayas and Egypt

Chapter 10 The Himalayas and Egypt

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

The rest of the crew (minus Mystique, Beast, and Wanda) were heading off in various jets and other flying devices to the Himalayas. The plan was to find Sinister's Essex-flyer and to land right next to it, on the assumption that it was the landing spot nearest the tomb of Apocalypse. Presumably if there were a nearer landing spot, Sinister would have landed there, so trying to head him off at the pass would not be a workable idea.

According to calculations that Magneto had given Xavier, Sinister would reach the tomb of Apocalypse in another eighty hours. So a team consisting of Sabertooth, Wolverine, St. John, Piotr, Scott, Rogue, Ororo, and Amara set out. Following in reserve, about a mile behind them, were Freddy, Warren, Todd, Bobby, Sam, Ray, Tabitha, and Evan. Xavier, Jamie, and Roberto would stay behind in the X-Jet. Pietro would zip on up ahead to see if he could locate Sinister. Lance was staying behind as a doomsday weapon. He would track the movements of the rest, and if called upon, he would take a personal flyer as close as he possibly could to Apocalypse's tomb, crash-land and then use his powers to bring the snow down on it. He probably would have to land two or three miles below the tomb, closer than he was now but also in a place far less suited to making the trek to the tomb (or they would have landed there in the first place) but that would be close enough to bring the mountain down.

For three days, very little happened. Pietro kept reporting on Sinister's location, and they kept getting closer. Then, as they got to the last few miles of the trek, Pietro stopped coming back. They tried to go faster now, even as they reached the exhaustion point.

Now, back in time a few days and in Egypt:

Kitty, Eric, Cain, Jean, and Kurt looked in disbelief at the charred remains of Magneto's utterly destroyed personal flyer. If not for Kurt's teleportation, they would all be dead now, well except for Cain, of course. Lasers had sprung up around the Sphinx, firing on the flyer and causing it to explode. Now on the ground Magneto reached out magnetically and managed to turn off all of the defensive lasers that had sprung up in the Sphinx. All except for the ones in its eyes. Cain solved that problem by running up to the Sphinx and then climbing up its face to knock out both of its eyes. Now the Sphinx's face was even more damaged than it had been already, but the way in looked to be safe, if it could be found.

It took only a few seconds for Magneto to detect the secret entrance and to open it. Everyone went in, Cain first. Things went fine for the first few minutes, until a trapdoor opened and swallowed up Juggernaut. Then a huge pterodactyl swept down from an opening in the ceiling and grabbed Magneto.

"Look into my eyes," it cackled.

"Sauron! Nooo...."

Jean tried to telepathically stop the beast, but something in its brain protected it from telepathic attacks. She then tried telekinesis. She managed to push Sauron back, and Kurt teleported right onto his back. A series of bamfs drained Nightcrawler of energy, but weakened Sauron to the point of absolute exhaustion, as he slumped into unconsciousness. They quickly tied him up, and gagged and blindfolded him. Magneto appeared to be okay, so they left him for the time being.

Jean tried to lift Cain out of the pit telekinetically, but was shocked to discover that she could not sense anything inside the pit, let alone move it.

"Cain? Cain?" she hollered. No answer.

"Quick! Try to go on! Magneto said the device Apocalypse plans to use is this way!" As they ran in that direction, they were confronted by animated statues of Egyptian gods.

"This is, so like the Sentinel!" screamed Kitty.

"Retreat!" hollered Jean, and they ran back in the direction whence they had come. Picking up Eric, Kurt teleported them outside. In the nighttime, they would be safe from the desert heat, but they had no supplies, as they had been destroyed with the flyer.

Kurt teleported back in to check on Sauron. He decided to teleport the creature back with them. It appeared that Magneto had known the creature's name. So when Magneto woke, Kurt would have to ask who he was. But when he got back, Sauron was not only awake, but free. Kurt teleported outside as fast as he could.

For his part, Sauron decided not to go outside to confront them. He was unused to being defeated so easily, and decided to concentrate on internal defense of the underground complex. There was absolutely no sense in risking his life when he could achieve the same results by just making certain that the internal defenses would not permit them to come in until it was too late. 

Juggernaut, for his part, wandered alone in a pitch-black dungeon. Upon discovering a wall, he tried to barge through it. Eventually, he discovered a spot where the wall gave way to a tunnel. The tunnel appeared to have a little light, so he followed it to see if he could find a way out.

A little more than three days later, Magneto had fully recovered, and the mutants were recovering in a nearby town. Cain was still gone, but together they would get inside the facility and stop Sauron from activating whatever device it was that Apocalypse needed.

This time, it was quite easy. Magneto managed to magnetically shield them from detection by the statues, which were apparently robots of some sort, and they got all the way to the inner room where the device was.

"So, you've found the Eye. Impressive," said Sauron, who was sitting on it. But I am afraid that in this room, it gives me the ability to nullify your powers. At least, energy powers like magnetism, phasing, teleporting, or telekinesis or telepathy. Or," he smiled - "sticking to walls. But you are still agile, Kurt. But I can break you of that!" He lunged at Kurt, and quickly drained him of power further, putting him to sleep. In short order, all four mutants were put to sleep. Now Sauron would finish them off. 

Back at the Himalayas, Sinister and the two Rogues had just reached the entrance when the first team of the X-Men/Acolyte/Brotherhood alliance caught up to them. 

"Hold it there, Bub!" hollered Wolverine. Sinister turned around. Ruby quartz covered every inch of him except his face, which suddenly gained covering when he pressed a button on one hand. He had an unconscious Pietro in his arms. "So, you are the ones he told me were coming. Well, told isn't the right word, I suppose. When you read someone's mind, you are - taking the information. But the point is, I am ready for you!"

The two Rogues scowled at the team. Sinister would have had them split into an army, but that would destabilize their powers, which he needed if his plan was going to work. Suddenly, the Rogues fired off a series of energy charges at the first team. Fire, optic blasts, lightning, charged snowballs a la Gambit.

But from the X-Jet, Charles used a mini-Cerebro unit to mentally get in touch with the two Rogues. He couldn't read their minds beyond surface emotions, or in any way get through to reason with them, but he could blast their minds so that they couldn't use their powers. The two Rogues began to clutch their heads and scream.

Sinister recognized what was happening and called off their attack. "Go! He said. You know what to do! I'll take care of these pikers!"

Scott tried to attack Sinister, but his optic blasts were harmlessly diffused by the quartz armor. He was quickly knocked out. Sabertooth and Wolverine followed suit. With St. John amplifying her powers, Amara tried to burn Sinister and the two Rogues, but one of the Rogues used Wanda's powers to cause the maneuver to backfire. This led to Professor X knocking her out, but by this time Sinister had used his energy bolts to knock the fiery duo out cold. Ororo tried to use the wind to push Sinister to, and then off, a nearby cliff, but he managed to knock her out as well before he had moved ten feet.

The original Rogue quickly bared one of her hands and touched Scott's lip with it. Piotr, meanwhile, ran at Sinister in metal form, and managed to knock him to the ground. Piotr smashed his fists into Sinister, quickly destroying the quartz armor he had covered himself with. Finally, Sinister managed to pump enough energy into Piotr to knock him out as well. He regretted that he had no samples of Professor Xavier to use on his Rogue clones, as that might have made them immune to the Professor's power and therefore able to use their powers without opening themselves up to attack.

Then the original Rogue came into view. She opened her eyes and concentrated on firing as steady a beam as she could muster at Sinister's midsection, pushing him back into the mountainside, just to the right of the gate. Sinister responded with a tremendous energy blast that put Rogue down for the count. He looked at the green, gooey mess inside his chest, and shuddered. He then ran to Rogue 3, who had been knocked out by the Professor and woke her. "Go! Now! With your sister!" Rogue 3 ran to meet Rogue 2. Sinister used all of the mental powers he could summon to block Charles' use of the mini-Cerebro in this area. Rogue 3 turned herself into a snake using Mystique's powers and moved through a small hole in the last unopened gate. Once inside, she grabbed a pedestal and was turned to stone. The third gate began to open just as the second team got there. They stared in horror as the gate opened completely and as Rogue 2 walked calmly inside.

Now Rogue 2 was safe from mental attack. Inside Apocalypse's tomb, Charles could not get to them. Sinister took down his mental block.and began to deal with the mutants of the second team. It was harder than it looked, especially when Tabitha managed to shoot her "bombs" into the damaged area of his midsection. Once weakened by optic blasts, Sinister was much more vulnerable to other harm, and he began to back up.

Freddy was the first to go down, then Bobby, Ray, and Sam (who first managed to barrel right through Sinister). Then Warren and Todd were knocked out. Tabitha and Evan managed to dodge Sinister's blasts a while longer.

Then Tabby had an idea. She grabbed a hold of the unconscious Rogue and let herself drain into her. Rogue woke up with a start. Then she realized Tabitha's plan. She created an explosive charge and threw it right into Sinister. Only, it wasn't one of Tabby's. It was red like Scott's optic blasts. When it exploded, Sinister was nearly blown apart. Evan shot a bone through Sinister's chest, further weakening him.

Just then, Rogue 2 took off a glove and touched Apocalypse. Suddenly she began turning into everyone she had recently absorbed. Each time, she would split in two, with one of her turning into someone new and with the second one being bodily absorbed into Apocalypse. Finally she herself lost her form and was absorbed into him. Rogue and Evan gaped in astonishment, and Sinister took advantage of this to shoot them both. He was too weak to knock them unconscious, but he managed to knock them down hard enough so that they were too disoriented to attack him.

Sinister ran into the tomb, quickly ridding his body of the sludge and shifting his mass within his body to make himself appear whole again. He pressed a button on his belt. Apocalypse, who had begun to rise, groaned slightly.

Back in Egypt, Sauron was about to finish off the four mutants in the Eye Room when the floor underneath him gave way and he had to jump up and fly to avoid a nasty fall. With a tremendous jump, Juggernaut grabbed the creature's leg and dragged him into the basement. 

"The Eye don't affect my powers!" he boasted. "I kept walking until I found a room directly under the Eye. I guess the sound-proofing only went as far as the pit I was in originally, cause I could hear you talking to yourself and figured the device we was lookin' for must be wherever you was. So ya call it the Eye?" Slowly Juggernaut began to crush the head of Sauron. "Well, I waited until I heard my friends come here to attack, figured we'd have a better chance together rather than alone against you, and so I'd attack when they got here. I didn't count on them being powerless."

"You were right to be wary of taking me on alone!" hissed Sauron. He pressed a button on his belt and a beam of light shot from the eye. Juggernaut's helmet flew off of his head and Sauron began to hypnotize him. Juggernaut slowly began to lose focus, but Sauron was also beginning to weaken in Juggernaut's grip. With all of the will he could muster, Juggernaut threw Sauron into a wall, breaking eye contact and thus breaking Sauron's telepathy. Sauron groaned in pain. 

That would have been the end for Sauron, except that the Eye began to glow. Sauron was immediately revived by a beam shooting from the Eye. "Apocalypse is awake!" he chortled, as he rushed to the eye and opened it. He got inside, and then it closed again, and disappeared.


	11. Rescues

Chapter 11: Rescues

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

As Apocalypse awoke and rose, Sinister grinned at him.

"I had Rogue 2 infect you with a virus. If you disobey me, I will cause you to lose all of your powers. You thought yourself to be the master. Now I am the master. Call the Eye."

Apocalypse did as he was told. Suddenly a loud noise permeated the mountain.

"Avalanche!" whispered the original Rogue, who had regained her balance.

"Faster!" hissed Sinister at Apocalypse. 

"It will come. Give it time!"

Suddenly the Eye appeared. This was apparently the device from Egypt that Magneto and the others had been sent to stop, Rogue guessed. Apocalypse clapped his hands and an energy wave traveled out from him, shattering the stone Rogue 3 into dust and knocking out the real Rogue and Evan. Apocalypse and Sinister levitated into the Eye and it disappeared as fast as it had come.

It was sheer luck that Bobby had just recovered from unconsciousness, and that a bank of snow had protected him from Apocalypse's energy wave. Seeing the snow and much of the mountain coming down upon them, he used his powers to create a canopy of ice, and then tried to mentally shout to the Professor to get Avalanche to stop. 

Avalanche quickly got the message and didn't send any more shock waves through the ground. Fortunately enough, the mountain was not too badly damaged to stabilize again before it could fall over onto the mostly unconscious mutants, crushing the protective canopy.

The Professor managed to use the X-Jet to rescue the mutants fairly quickly, and no one being hurt in a life-threatening way, they all returned to the Institute.

Meanwhile, back in the Black Fortress Gambit awoke to find himself in an adamantium cage. This was one material (but not the only one) he couldn't charge, and he had been stripped naked, so he had no means of weaponizing anything to fire at anyone.

Slab came in with a meal for Gambit. The plate and utensils were made of adamantium.

After Gambit ate what he had been given, he found a key in the plate. Quickly he used it to unlock the cage and to get out. His clothes were in the room and he quickly put them on. Then he snuck off to find Slayer's room. She must have given him the key!

He managed to walk in on her as she was watching an "educational" film about genetic engineering that was in reality Essex spouting off his ideology with science intermixed.

"C'mon, chere, we go! Gambit got the key you left!"

Slayer turned around, stunned. Squinting to control the blast, she pulled down her glasses and blasted Remy into a wall. She hadn't controlled it that well. Without his body armor, he would likely have been killed.

"What the Hell? Who let him out? She walked up to Remy and grabbed him by the collar. Sinister had increased her strength as one of his modifications. Remy was conscious, though barely, and realized quickly that Slayer had just been bait. She wasn;t really trying to leave., But then who sent the key?

Slab walked in. "Lyssa, what's wrong?"

"Someone let Gambit out!"

Slab grew to full size. "I'll find them and crush them like an insect!"

"Do that!" hissed Lyssa. She turned her back to Slab for a second and began to scream at Gambit. "Now, who let you out? Tell me!"

Then everything went black for her. She had been punched by Slab in the back of the head. "_I_ let him out!"

Slab turned to Gambit. "I heard her talking to Ms. Dexter today. She's the one that captured you. They want to kill me! Come on!"

Slab quickly led Gambit to freedom. He carried Lyssa Summers with him with the idea that she should be taken to Professor X, hopefully for some attitude adjustment. Unfortunately, as soon as they were outside, the external defenses activated. Morevoer, Gorgeous managed to grab Slayer and pull her out of Slab's arms. Gambit and Slab barley made it back to Gambit's motorcycle, where Slab shrank to the smallest size he could and got on the back. They sped off toward the institute.

Ruckus had suddenly disappeared from prison. That was all that was known at first. Then it came to light that there had been UFO sightings near the Bayville prison, and this was assumed to be somehow related. A little more than a year ago, no one would have taken these sightings seriously. But with mutants existing, who could be certain of anything?


	12. Resolution

Chapter 12 Resolution

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

Apocalypse had apparently taken up residence in Mexico. That was all that was known. He protected any information from getting out by means of a glowing blue and black spherical shield. Two weeks since his release, and as of yet he had tried nothing.

Graydon Creed was enjoying his new-found friends in the F.O.H. They had the attitudes that humans needed if they were going to stop the mutant takeover. And two new members were being initiated with him this very day!

"What's your name?" he whispered.

"It's Parker. Peter Parker." Parker hoped to God that they wouldn't see his mini-camera. Moreover, he hoped that they wouldn't find out his two secrets. First, that he was Spider-Man. If they hated mutants, he doubted that they had a soft spot for normal humans who received superpowers after they were born. Second, he hoped that they wouldn't discover that he was a free-lance photographer, who had decided to try to do this "the old-fashioned way."

Another new recruit was waiting as well. Parker noticed the man and thought that he recognized him. The man was in disguise, but...

Jameson? thought Parker. But he can't be... he's a civil-rights fighter. Oh, hell... No wonder he was in disguise, realized Peter. He was doing the same thing Peter was! If it hadn't been for his Spider-Sense, Peter might have fooled, but he knew who it was! Jameson noticed Parker, and his jaw dropped a little.

My star photographer is a bigot? Okay, he's not really a star, he's too secretive, but he gets the best pictures, even if no one knows about it. My best photographer is a bigot? Okay, he is free-lance, so he's not exactly mine, but... he's a bigot? Parker is a bigot?

Peter was now standing right next to J. Jonah Jameson. Realizing the thoughts Jameson must be having, Peter decided to try to give him the message that they were on the same side.

"So what's your name?" he asked.

"Charles Overton," replied Jameson.

"So I see that we had the same thought. We decided to go about this the same way. We both saw a problem, and decided to do what was necessary to expose it. To expose the menace and to bugle it out to society." He unobtrusively winked his right eye.

Jameson gulped a second. Then he realized something. Parker wasn't discussing the "mutant menace." He was doing the same thing that Jameson was doing - trying to expose these pathetic losers. Jameson smiled a little. "Stick with me kid, and we'll expose the entire menace to the _whole_ world!"

The X-Men, Acolytes, and the Brotherhood had for now labeled themselves "The Alliance" whenever referring to each other collectively. Talia was now the equivalent of three years old, and was becoming a cute and inquisitive youngster. Mystique was healing. Life was good, although everything was haunted by the specter of Apocalypse.

Kurt was getting to know his mother, and she was making an effort to be kind to him and his daughter. Wanda was getting along all right with Magneto, and Xavier was suppressing her memories for just a little longer, until he had the control device perfected that would nullify her powers when she was told of the bad news.

Rogue was still trying to get over seeing two of copies of herself destroyed, and the idea of her being used by Apocalypse.

Gambit was introducing the newest member of the Acolytes, Slab, who would tell them everything he knew about Mr. Sinister's plans, and hopefully would provide a valuable source of information on how to stop him.

Meanwhile, Ms. Dexter and Lyssa Summers were watching as Apocalypse hooked Ruckus, Ramrod, Gorgeous George, and Hairbag up to the Eye. Each was in a large tube that had wires running out of its top into the Eye.

"The Eye should power the transformation," he explained. "If I charge it with my own energy."

"The Eye worked well enough at getting Ruckus out of jail," commented Sinister. "And everyone thinks it was aliens!"

The apparatuses whirred and whistled as they powered up. 

"Shipment in today. From the Brazilian base."

"Ah, the prototypes based on information stolen from Tony Stark's labs!" cackled Sinister. The shipment came in, and after the packaging was removed, four sleek metallic horses came into view.

Twenty-eight hours later, Ruckus, Ramrod, Gorgeous, and Hairbag walked out of their tubes. But they were different now. Ruckus was eight feet tall, with red lines extending from his eyes to his chin. His eyes were black and his hair metallic. Ramrod's entire face was cloaked in a sort of darkness, and he too stood much taller. His hands were now claws, and his eyes glowed orange. Gorgeous's features had changes. He no longer had a nose, and the top of his head was bald. He still had hair on the sides, though. His hands too were like claws, and his mouth and eyes glowed red. He seemed to breath fire. Hairbag now looked less like a thug and more like a soldier. His quills were metal, and he fired one up into the ceiling where it exploded. His eyes glowed green. His canine teeth were six-inch fangs.

"It is time to test them," said Apocalypse.

The eye quickly transported Sinister, Apocalypse, and the four remaining Nasty Boys and their horses to an uninhabited rainforest in Brazil. Uninhabited by any except for a few native villages that would not be missed by the outside world for a matter of weeks. The Nasty Boys rode on their horses, which were capable of levitation and which reminded Sinister of fire mares.

"Ruckus. Destroy the rainforest in front of you."

Ruckus screamed. Trees flew out of the ground. An earthquake started. The ground opened underneath Ruckus, and if they had not been sitting on their horses all four Nasty Boys would have fallen in. When he was done, three acres of trees had been wrenched out of the soil.

"You are War. Now Ramrod, clear me another few acres. Will them to disappear."

Ramrod looked in a direction 90 degrees to the right of Ruckus. He thought for a few seconds, and then began to concentrate. The forest suddenly crumbled into dust. Not only the wood disappeared though. All vegetation suddenly turned into slime. Two and a half acres had been cleared.

"You can destroy any vegetation now by pulling apart its cellulose. Your power is over herbs as well as wood. You can destroy all of the crops in the world. You are Famine. Hairbag, there is a village in that direction." He pointed to the left. The Nasty Boys ran through the air on their horses. Apocalypse used telekinesis to move himself and Sinister through the air after them.

"Poison them."

Hairbag exhaled, and a cloud of poison gas descended on the entire village. Within seconds, every animal or person in the village was dead.

"You are Pestilence. Gorgeous, the next village is over that way."

When they got there, Apocalypse told Gorgeous, "Wipe the village out of existence."

Gorgeous George concentrated for a second, and his arms were slicked with a black substance. Then orange flame enveloped his body. He extended his hands down to the village and coated it all within seconds with a black material that turned orange as it went up in flames. In all of five seconds, the village was gone. Gorgeous drew his hands back to himself, where they regained their purple color. There was a black charred spot covering about four acres where the village had been.

"And you, George, are Death."

Sinister laughed heartily. "And you are MINE! You are no longer the Nasty Boys! You are the Four Horsemen! And you shall help me to recover the child, and to destroy those who will not except my vision!"

"You are mad," stated Apocalypse. "The Horsemen are not to be controlled like that. They are to spread chaos, for such is the way that we improve ourselves. Control is counterproductive."

Sinister laughed again. "Perhaps I should activate the virus, and you can see chaos in action?"

"No. I hear and obey." Apocalypse considered how he was going to defeat Sinister. He was stumped for now, but his time would come.

"Soon we shall attack," screamed Sinister, for once letting his joy get the better of his normally cool demeanor. "And then we can build my dream!"

FINIS


End file.
